[jpzk]

I have been browsing here through the forum and elsewhere on the Web for information regarding naming/rating/archiving photos. Not much that can help me though.
Since I have CS5, Bridge is included in the package of course. I have also come across info on Lightroom, but that this may a redundant piece of software if it does the same as Bridge, or maybe not..

Here is what I am trying to do: (also see "My Setup" below)

My Setup: for storing all of my thousands of photos (RAW and JPEG's), I have two external HDD's (1 TB each) at the moment. I also have two 500GB external drives which are FULL !!

I am trying to reorganize my archiving so that I can use keywords and a "star rating" system.

Looking into Bridge, which by the way is something I had never even opened on my desktop, I find the whole exercise rather demanding (read: complicated and frustrating) for my not-so-great computer skills.
I have browsed through several tutorials on how to set up the pics that way (ratings and keywords) but I am not getting anywhere with this .... I even fail to name a file and rate it. Same goes for the keywording.
To be frank, I am lost !

Is there a step-by-step tutorial out there, not a video please ! , which would guide me through this?

This is my usual workflow for storing photos:

1. Download the photos (DNG) from the SD card directly to a HDD
2. View the pics via Pentax PDCU and choose which ones to keep/delete
3. Open the DNG files from Camera Raw or PDCU
4. Process the "keepers" ... this is where I would like to "rate" and "keyword" for future reference and easy retrieval.At the moment, I simply name a file such as (for instance) "woodpecker 1" and rate it as whatever I feel it deserves ... no star system ... just a comment uch as "Good" , "Best", "Keper", etc ... very lame !

For easy retrieval, I would like a system that really works and that is easy to use.
Does Bridge fit the bill or would Lightroom be a better option?
Are there ANY good visual tutorials to guide me through this, either with Bridge or Lightroom?

Cheers to all who will offer suggestions.

JP

[Ash]

Don't have any tutorials to refer you to, but Bridge is quite powerful as a bulk image handler once you get used to its batch controls. You have the same workflow as most others, only the programmes used to cull and process may be different.

For me, I sift for keepers using ACR (since I also shoot RAW) as it's quick and easy to review images on full-screen and handy using the delete button to instantly delete and move to the next image. Then I batch rename the keepers in Bridge (most useful tool on the programme IMO). Bridge can also batch rate and batch keyword if you want to. This makes it easier to categorise and file away iamges. Then I reopen the images in ACR for basic processing and converting to JPEG, and finally do the PP finishing touches in Photoshop.

Overall, Bridge is a very good programme when utilised for organisation and archiving of images.

[jpzk]

Don't have any tutorials to refer you to, but Bridge is quite powerful as a bulk image handler once you get used to its batch controls. You have the same workflow as most others, only the programmes used to cull and process may be different.

For me, I sift for keepers using ACR (since I also shoot RAW) as it's quick and easy to review images on full-screen and handy using the delete button to instantly delete and move to the next image. Then I batch rename the keepers in Bridge (most useful tool on the programme IMO). Bridge can also batch rate and batch keyword if you want to. This makes it easier to categorise and file away iamges. Then I reopen the images in ACR for basic processing and converting to JPEG, and finally do the PP finishing touches in Photoshop.

Overall, Bridge is a very good programme when utilised for organisation and archiving of images.

Thanks a bunch, Ash.

Seems like a good program after all, and powerful too.
I'll just have to browse some more to find a few details: keywording, rating, batch jobs, etc ...

Cheers.

JP

[calsan]

I don't trust software developers to provide much backwards comparability, so you could spend months rating all your photos and then in 2015 be forced to rate them all again on your new software.
Therefore:
I organize my photos in folders. This way I don't risk losing my categories if I change software and it can be transferred to another machine or DVD very easily and will browse logically with categories preserved even on a DVD player or TV, for example.
For example I will have a folder structure something like this:
"My Photos" > "2011" > "Birds" or
"My Photos" > "2011" > "Portraits"
I also use NameEXIF to name my files by date and time automatically.
That's it. If you need more specific categories, you can just add more folders. So have Birds subfolders: Parrots, Pigeons or whatever. If you want rate a file, then you can just browse the folders in a program like Picassa and apply a star, or make specific folders for "5 star Parrots" "4 Star Parrots". The number of folders you need should be balanced between being too specific and not specific enough. I get by with about 10 categories for about 2000-3000 photos per year.

[dms]

RE: Ash's comments--l found Bruce Fraser's book: "Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2" very helpful for the Bridge aspect--His chapter "Adobe Bridge Your Digital Light Table" is all about how to use bridge in your workflow--nothing fancy--just very well written. He discusses applying ratings and labels (and much more) and for this (ratings and the like) it doesn't matter if you have a later version of Bridge.

[einstrigger]

I know you didn't want any video, but the one by Julien Kost was very helpful to me (even though it's for CS4, the functionality is still the same).

Adobe TV

There are other videos at Adobe TV which might help you as well. If you can spring for it or "find it" on the internet, I highly recommend any of the Lynda.com learning series.

[jpzk]

I don't trust software developers to provide much backwards comparability, so you could spend months rating all your photos and then in 2015 be forced to rate them all again on your new software.
Therefore:
I organize my photos in folders. This way I don't risk losing my categories if I change software and it can be transferred to another machine or DVD very easily and will browse logically with categories preserved even on a DVD player or TV, for example.
For example I will have a folder structure something like this:
"My Photos" > "2011" > "Birds" or
"My Photos" > "2011" > "Portraits"
I also use NameEXIF to name my files by date and time automatically.
That's it. If you need more specific categories, you can just add more folders. So have Birds subfolders: Parrots, Pigeons or whatever. If you want rate a file, then you can just browse the folders in a program like Picassa and apply a star, or make specific folders for "5 star Parrots" "4 Star Parrots". The number of folders you need should be balanced between being too specific and not specific enough. I get by with about 10 categories for about 2000-3000 photos per year.

Thank Calsan.

Your folder system looks fine because you don't run the risk of loosing information. I never thought about the danger of running a piece of software and end up having to re-archive everything !

So, you would use folders on your HDD (internal or external I suppose) and sets of sub-folders ? Not sure if I undersatnd your method correctly here, but that's me and my lack of computer knowledge.
And do you place this URL ?

JP

[jpzk]

RE: Ash's comments--l found Bruce Fraser's book: "Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS2" very helpful for the Bridge aspect--His chapter "Adobe Bridge Your Digital Light Table" is all about how to use bridge in your workflow--nothing fancy--just very well written. He discusses applying ratings and labels (and much more) and for this (ratings and the like) it doesn't matter if you have a later version of Bridge.

I checked the summaries (reviews) for this book and it looks like a good start.
Thanks for the info.

Cheers.

JP

[jpzk]

I know you didn't want any video, but the one by Julien Kost was very helpful to me (even though it's for CS4, the functionality is still the same).

Adobe TV

There are other videos at Adobe TV which might help you as well. If you can spring for it or "find it" on the internet, I highly recommend any of the Lynda.com learning series.

I checked that out ... and also some vid's from Lynda.com interesting bits but not quite what I am looking for in terms of "tutorials".

Thanks.

JP

[calsan]

Hi jpzk
Sorry a bit slow to reply - time zone difference...
I don't want too many sub-folders, just enough to get the job done.
In my explanation the greater than > character in this sentence "My Photos" > "2011" > "Birds" means the "Birds" folder is inside a folder called "2011" and that's inside the folder "My Photos". I find it's very useful to start with a folder by year, because at very least you will be able to look back in ten years and see that your holiday to France, say, was in 2011. As for specifically when: that's why I name the files by date and time.

[jpzk]

Hi jpzk
Sorry a bit slow to reply - time zone difference...
I don't want too many sub-folders, just enough to get the job done.
In my explanation the greater than > character in this sentence "My Photos" > "2011" > "Birds" means the "Birds" folder is inside a folder called "2011" and that's inside the folder "My Photos". I find it's very useful to start with a folder by year, because at very least you will be able to look back in ten years and see that your holiday to France, say, was in 2011. As for specifically when: that's why I name the files by date and time.

No trouble for the time zone issue, calsan.

That seems to be a good way to work on my thousands of files; at least start with something which can be easily searchable.

Is there any way to search using tags, keywords and/or ratings at all?
If you open a file (photo) for instance and go to "Properties", there is an option to rate a picture with stars ... I tried that but cannot search using the star thing.

Anyway, I thank you for the suggestions.

JP

[Ole]

Locating images based on keywords stored with Adobe Bridge is incredibly slow. It's practically useless. I tried. I agree with calsan, a well thought out system with folders is the way to go supplemented with a scheme for naming the files. I have supplemented that with a simple database of folder names and related keywords.